Brief Intermission

Posted on Sat Jun 19th, 2010 @ 1:27am by Commander Lucas Jackson & Commander Raven Adams

999 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: On Typhon Station
Location: Chief Intelligence Officer's Office / Artificial Intelligence Lab
Timeline: Current

The door chime rang indicating a presence at the door of the Chief Intelligence Officer's Office.

Raven was looking through gigaquads of data about recent serial killers in the Federation to see if she could find any that seemed to have the same MO as the killer on the starbase. When she heard the chime, she set her work aside. "Come in," she called.

"Hello," Luke said as he entered the office. "I hope I'm not catching you at a bad time."

"No," Raven assured him. "What can I do for you?"

"Well," Luke began, shifting his weight slightly before continuing, "at the party...however long ago...I never really got the chance to talk to you. So, I was wondering if you wanted to take a break and head to the AI / Cybernetics Labs, or something." Once again, the man slightly shuffled and stretched in the spot he was in.

Raven was a little surprised by his request. "The AI lab sounds quite interesting. I haven't had the time to visit it yet."

"Well, I was headed that way right now...If you're not too terribly busy." Luke gave a discreet blink that Raven didn't catch. A small grin appeared on his face.

Raven looked around. She'd been at the search for over four hours now without a break. And she did want to see the AI lab, and this was the perfect opportunity to see what was down there. "I can take a short break," she told him.

"Alright," Luke said with a hint of excitement, "I'll lead the way."

*Artificial Intelligence Lab*

"Right this way, Raven," said Luke as the doors to the AI Lab opened.

Raven followed him, curious to see what they were working on in the AI lab. Especially since she had Edgar, her own AI.

"Much of the labs work right now is devoted to the RAIN Project, standing for the Response of Artificial Intelligence Network. The whole idea for the project is centered around relief efforts that StarFleet takes part in, whether it be medical, military, rebuilding, humanitarian, etc. As you know, whenever StarFleet gets deployed on one of these missions, many members of its staff get dispursed from their home ship or base. Thus, we are trying to more efficiently run these missions with the introduction of AI's," Luke stopped, realizing that Raven probably wasn't interested in the facts of the project.

"Why keep people from going on away missions? You can't replicate or replace the human factor. Except for Dr. Soong no one has succeeded in replicating anything close to computer logic. Besides, why take away part of why we joined Starfleet?" Raven asked.

"Well," said a man who stepped into the conversation, "we're not really trying to replace anything or anyone...We're just trying to make things easier. Much of the technology we're working on has already been created...We're just improving it. For example, until a couple of decades ago, a machine called the TRASH machine, or the Turbo: Resources And Sanitation Hopper was used in many Federation colonies. It was a semi-small cyclinder that could hold ample amounts of trash and debris and break it down. We have since changed its function and now it separates the trash into the elements it is made of, liquefies the elements and stores them for later use. The main AI component is the fact that you don't have to dump things in it anymore. If you set the square area that you want it to clean, the machine will do it on its own."

"Yes, that can be a benefit of AIs, but that's old tech. What are you working on now?" she asked.

Luke shooed the other man away. "...Sorry about that man. He's our Head of AI Development... and quite annoying." Lucas laughed for a brief moment. "Anyways, most of our work is centered on improving the starbase. For instance, there are always a minimum of ten officers in the Communications Bay at all times in order to keep a handle on all of the communication signals that pass through the Typhon's array. The Fleet has asked us to integrate more AI systems into the Communications Department that can run along-side the base's main AI system. This would make it so less men would be needed to run the area, equaling less costs for our expanding fleet."

"Can't the computer do the monitoring and notify you if anything comes through?" Raven asked.

"On an ordinary Federation starship, yes. However, the computer systems get a lot more complex in a starbase. When the starbase was designed in 2386, it was only a year after the Dominion War. The Fleet was still rebuilding, and most of the budget was allocated to building new ships. Starbases lacked critical funding. So, the designers could not create and impliment various conveniency systems because there was no financial backing. Now that the Fleet is somewhat rebuilt, there are more resources to develop these systems." Luke gave a sigh and looked around the room, seeing what else there was to show.

Lucas got the feeling that this meeting was becoming rather boring. There wasn't much to show for in the AI Lab yet, much to the disappointment of Luke. Most of the current projects were just mundane devices - nothing unusual. He turned to Raven, "There aren't a whole lot of neat gizmos and gadgets to be seen right now. Honestly, I probably shouldn't have taken you here in the first place, as I knew it would probably be uneventful; I'm sorry that I wasted your time."

"It wasn't a waste," Raven assured him. "I appreciate the tour. But I should let you get back to work now," she said.

"Alright...Thanks for coming, and I hope we can do this again some time." Luke gave a subconscious wink before Raven turned to go out of the room.

OFF

Commander Lucas Jackson
Chief Science Officer
Starbase Typhon

Commander Raven Adams
Chief Intelligence Officer
Starbase typhon

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